Telephone dial



May 26, 1964 TOMETARO SUEKI TELEPHONE DIAL Filed June 5, 1959 FIG.2

FIG.1

FIG.3

FIG.6

FIG.'7

FIG.4

FIG.5

. INVENTOR TOMETARO sum ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,134,860TELEPHONE DIAL Tornetaro Sueki, l8 Nislii, 7chome, Azuma-cho, Sumida-kn,Tokyo, Japan Fiiezl June 5, 1959, Ser. No. 818,435 1 Claim. (Cl. 179-90)This invention relates to telephone dials and is more particularlydirected to an improvement therein.

The main object of this invention is to minimize the friction,disagreeable feeling and fatigue followed by rotation produced betweenthe finger tip and finger hole when the dial finger wheel is rotated.

It is an another important object of the invention that the finger wheelworks accurately and can easily be attached to known telephone dialswith a low production cost.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a finger wheel in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a finger opening portionof the finger wheel with a ring insert.

And FIG. 3 is a top view partly broken away of the ring insert on thefinger wheel.

The present invention consists of a ring insert 3 freely and rotatablyarranged along the inner circumference of the finger opening 1 of thetelephone dial finger wheel 2 provided with any number of fingeropenings.

Each annular finger opening 1 has a series of small spaced apartprotrusions 4 of equal length and with convex ends extending inwardlyand radially of and around said opening providing an annular interruptedbearing surface defining the side of said opening.

Each ring insert 3 has a concave outer periphery 5 slideably embracingsaid protrusions 4 and overlapping the adjacent portion of said fingerwheel while the inner periphery 6 is convex. In use the telephone dialfinger wheel 2 is rotated by pushing the ring insert 3 with the fingertip, whereby ring 3 rotates freely within the finger 3,134,860 PatentedMay 26, 1 964 "ice opening 1 and the finger tip moves with the ring 3,so that the friction, disagreeable feeling and fatigue followed byrotation produced between the finger tip and finger opening can beeliminated. Particularly with the dial finger wheel 2 and the ringinsert 3 are kept in point contact along the interrupted small ridges 4,rotational relation between both of them is carried out very smooth ly,and thus the main object of this invention can be achieved moreeffectively.

Moreover, as the rotating ring insert 3 envelopes the circumferentialWall of the finger opening 1, the dial finger wheel 2 can be rotatedeasily and lightly with no need of full insertion of finger tip into thering insert and it is very convenient for the dial operators who mustrotate the telephone dial frequently.

What I claim is:

An improvement in telephone dials comprising a rotatably mounted fingerwheel having at least one opening therethrough, said finger Wheel havinga series of spaced apart protrusions of equal length with convex endsextending inwardly and radially of and around said finger wheel openingproviding an annular interrupted bearing surface defining the side ofsaid opening, a ring shaped insert having a concave periphery with saidprotrusions extending completely therein slideably supporting saidinsert for rotation therearound with said ring shaped insert peripheryslideably abutting said bearing surface when being used and said ringshaped insert having a central opening with a convex wall defining saidopening for receiving the finger of a person for rotating said fingerwheel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,427,017 Popper Aug. 22, 1922 1,674,317 Buff June 19, 1928 2,239,834Williams Apr. 29, 1941 2,834,838 Klingel May 13, 1958

